I’m educated enough to generally understand that cancer is the result of a gene mutation, which activates rapid cell reproduction, but what about this growing/spreading tumor makes it fatal? Why can’t we just periodically remove the tumor as it continues grow, thereby (almost) completely eliminating any possible death threat from cancer?
***EDIT: thanks for all the responses to my question! Some of them are really great, and perfectly answer my question. Frankly, I was not aware that cancerous cells and tumors have, in so many ways, “a mind of their own”.***
***I’m very lucky to have been of general good health my whole life, but the threat of cancer as I age scares the daylights outta me — it literally keeps me up at night, often. I’m slightly relieved to realize that so much is known about cancer and so many different treatment options exist, depending on the diagnosis and prognosis. And I recognize this wealth of knowledge, understanding, and treatment options is growing almost by the day with modern medicine — and this helps put me at ease a little too.***
***Here’s to ongoing good health for me and you…!***
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Cancerous tumors are basically rapidly replicating cells that have no “guidance”. Normally our cells replicate with a given blueprint on our DNA, which determines what cells they’ll become, what they’ll do, and when they’ll die and start the cycle anew. Cancer cells have no blueprint, and just rapidly expand and multiply as they slowly take over. The tumors not only grow larger but they also spread, which is called metastasis, which means that more tumors start developing around our bodies in exponential rates. What can start out as a single tumor can become dozens or hundreds of tumors all over the body. The main issues they cause are:
1. Resource hogs. Tumors sap a lot of nutrients that would normally be used to sustain the host in order to grow itself. In fact, cancer cells use up a disproportionate amount of energy compared to healthy cells. It’s one of the reasons (but not the only one) why one of the first noticeable symptoms of cancer is seemingly unexplained weight loss.
2. They interfere with the normal operation of our organs. Cancerous tumors rarely just sit there growing bigger minding their own business. As a cancerous tumor grows it starts affecting the organ it is attached to, which means that whatever job that organ has suddenly stops being done right until ultimately the organ fails. This is why some cancers are much more fatal than others. Lung, liver and pancreas cancers are much more fatal compared to other cancers because when those organs stop being able to do their job our overall health takes a nosedive very quickly.
3. It’s not just their size, a lot of the times they’re actively attacking us. Cancerous tumors don’t just sit there sucking in nutrients and taking up real estate. They release chemicals into our bloodstream and interfere with normal bodily functions. In many ways they’re outright attacking us.
These are just some generalised aspects of cancer. The reality is that there’s a ton of different kinds of cancers and a ton of different effects they can have on people. There are tumors that seemingly don’t do anything and just sit there and grow and they’re called benign tumors but those are usually very small. Very rarely will a huge tumor be benign but it is possible.
Surgical removal is not always an option because cancers have their own blood supply and may be large in size. Completely removing a tumor is difficult and it’s even more difficult to patch up the empty space left behind. As a cancer takes its toll on the patient it makes it much more risky to put them through major surgery, or multiple major surgeries. Depending on the stage of the cancer surgery may not be feasible as the cancer may have metastasized and gone to the entire body. Doesn’t matter if you remove the bigger tumors if there’s still a bunch of smaller tumors in your body. That’s why chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most prevalent forms of treatment as they attack all the cancer in the body. Surgery is usually opted when the cancer is caught at an early stage. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are always included in cancer treatment but surgery isn’t always part of treatment.
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